Joy and Tiers

by Mary Crawford

  “Okay. But just don’t get killed. I’d hate to have to hear from my dad how I should’ve married his partner’s nephew who’s a nice safe golf pro.”

  Tyler pulls me into a close embrace, enveloping me in his warm woodsy scent. I can feel his heart pound against my cheek as his arms tighten around me. He seems to have forgotten that we’re in a room full of people as he stands there and holds me for several minutes. We just breathe in sync. It seems like such a simple act, but it feels profound. It feels as if our hearts are beating as one and it occurs to me that in a way, that’s really what’s happened to us over time. We’ve become so interwoven it’s hard to determine where one of us starts and the other one ends. Don’t get me wrong, we still have our differences, but it’s as if we’ve become interlocking parts of an engine. We’re largely dysfunctional and useless alone, but powerful together. I can’t really pinpoint how or when the transition happened. Yet, I’m so glad that it did.

  Gradually, Tyler loosens his grip and murmurs in my ear, “Heather, I’m going to do my best to come back to you in one piece, because we’ve got a lifetime of living to do. Now, I know Aidan is waitin’ to show me up on the dance floor because of all the lip I was throwing him earlier.”

  I grab his hand and pull him out to the center of the dance floor. “I don’t know about that, I seem to remember you have a few moves of your own, Cowboy. I think you’re just pretending that you don’t like to dance.”

  Ty holds up his hands in protest as he argues, “Seriously I really don’t like to dance. But, you seem to make me break all my rules.”

  From behind Tyler Aidan says, “Hey! Thanks for reminding me how much I love that song.” He abruptly runs on stage and grabs the microphone from the bandleader and says, “You don’t mind do you?”

  The guy looks a little awestruck as he answers, “No dude, go right ahead.”

  Aidan looks out into the audience and asks, “Where are my mates?”

  From the side of the stage, a loud voice calls out, “Right here. We were wondering what took you so long. We figured you’d be hogging the stage long before now.”

  Aidan’s band swamps the stage as the other musicians gracefully step aside handing over their instruments with great aplomb.

  He strides over and whispers to his band leader and everyone nods while they look at us knowingly.

  I nudge Tyler whose attention has momentarily been drawn away by Becca who is tripping over her dress. He helps steady her and Becca scampers off to dance with Mindy. Tyler leans down so he can hear me over the decidedly country music sounds coming from the band. I cup my hand and shout into Tyler’s ear. “What do you think we’re in for now? Aidan looks like he’s got something up his sleeve.”

  Tyler shrugs. “I reckon we’re gonna find out right quick. Brace yourself.”

  Aidan steps up to the microphone and announces, “Over the last couple of years, I’ve had the really good fortune to meet a whole new group of friends thanks to my lovely new wife. One of the coolest has been a guy named Tyler. I’ve always thought Ty and I had lots of stuff in common. It turns out today we’ve got a lot more in common. The man did me a solid and snuck in a wedding today too. A lot of guys would be pissed off about having to share the limelight. But man, you’ve just let me off the hook big time. So, I owe you a huge thank you.”

  A smile of genuine affection crosses over Tyler’s face as he laughs at Aidan’s antics. “I know I’m going to regret asking this, but why is that?” Ty shouts up to the stage from the dance floor.

  “Well buddy, I hate to break it to you, but you and your beautiful wife now have the dubious honor of having the first dance at the wedding of a professional dancer. So, once again, I have to say, ‘Thank you so much for taking the pressure off.’ Knock yourselves out, kids. Can I have a large round of applause for Tyler and Mrs. Heather Colton as they have their first dance together as a married couple?”

  Since we are never in the business of backing down from a challenge, Tyler escorts me to the middle of the dance floor with a flourish. He bows deeply as I curtsy as if we had choreographed this for months in advance. We’re bluffing pretty well together until Tyler recognizes the opening strains of Lee Brice’s song aptly titled “I Don’t Dance.”

  He looks up at Aidan and grins. “Very clever. But also incredibly appropriate for the situation. I don’t dance for anybody except Heather. She has changed my outlook on so many things.”

  “I thought you might like that. It’s one of my favorite songs too. Now, go dance with your wife,” answers Aidan as he masterfully sings the touching lyrics.

  Tyler pulls me close for the slow country ballad. For a guy who claims he doesn’t dance, it’s incredibly romantic. I feel like the star of every romantic comedy I’ve ever watched. The clichés are true. By the time the song ends, I could’ve sworn that everyone else in the entire world melted away leaving only Tyler and I standing there. Tyler kisses me with all of the tenderness and urgency of a love song translated in a single gesture. We have so much to say to each other with so little time to say it.

  Abruptly, the world around us starts to intrude as some of our friends start to chant, “Speech, speech… speech.”

  Tyler is such a natural born ham that it’s rare to catch him being reticent. However, he flushes a dusky shade of red as he responds, “You all know me. I’m not much for big fancy words like my best friend, Jeff here and I’m definitely not a poet like Aidan. But, I want you all to know that I love Heather more than I’ve ever loved anyone.” Tyler looks over at his parents as he adds. “Sorry guys, but she’s become my first priority now.”

  Tyler’s dad laughs and says, “Son, I’d be concerned if it was any other way.”

  “So, I haven’t had a chance to tell most of you yet, but I’ve been called up again. As usual, I don’t know exactly where I’m going or how long I’ll be there. Now, I’ve got the best reason in the world to come home safely. So, I’m asking all of you, please take care of the person who holds my heart in her hands while I’m gone.”

  There isn’t a dry eye in the room as one by one and in small groups his friends and mine come up to greet us and say goodbye. Tyler seems a little overwhelmed by the show of support. I ask him about it when he starts to feel uncomfortable. “I guess I didn’t realize this many people care about my deployment” he admits.

  “What was the reaction the last time you were deployed?”

  “I don’t know, I didn’t really tell anybody except for my supervisor at work,” Tyler explains, shrugging.

  “Well, I think there are a couple things happening. First, if people don’t know what you’re going through, they can’t support you and secondly, your friendship circle has grown exponentially since Jeff and Kiera got married. There are simply more of us to care about your stubborn self.”

  Tyler threads my fingers through his as he admires our wedding rings. “I think you’re right. But, it looks like I don’t have to worry about them watching out for you while I’m gone. In fact, it looks like it might drive you a little crazy. It looks like they might sign up to do it in shifts.”

  “Yes, thanks for that, you overprotective oaf,” I tease. “I’m not going to be able to sneeze without somebody offering me a Kleenex from half a state away. Your parents sound like they want to move from Oklahoma to help me with the bakery.”

  Tyler looks mildly surprised, “Really? I never thought my dad would give up the hardware store.”

  “Oh, I don’t think it’s a done deal. But I think your mom is trying to talk him into it.”

  “How do you feel about that?” Ty asks, concern evident in his voice.

  “Relax, Cowboy. I think your parents are cool. I think it’s really sweet that they are more willing to be involved in my life’s work than my own parents. Don’t worry about it, we’ll figure it out.”

  Tyler heaves a heavy sigh as he responds, “We have so much to figure out. Damn war!”

  “Well, for now what we need to figure out is h
ow to get the other newlyweds up on the dance floor.”

  Tyler slides his arm around my waist and swings me around the perimeter of the dance floor as he says, “Come on, I have an idea.”

  “Can you believe how shocked Aidan was to learn that I know how to play the guitar?” I ask with a smug grin.

  “He wasn’t the only one. I had no idea you could play. How long have you been playing? If I had known, I would have been asking for my own private concerts a long time ago.”

  As I steer my truck back to our hotel room in a blinding rainstorm, I realize how much about each other that we don’t really know yet, despite hanging out for the last couple of years. “It wasn’t something I really planned to pick up. I was the quintessential jock in high school and we didn’t really hang out with the so-called band geeks. But, after I got to basic training and then was deployed, I found myself with more free time than I knew what to do with. After Stacia dumped me, my buddies were so tired of seeing me mope around, they taught me how to play three basic chords so I could play in their ‘band’. Soon, three chords became five and so on. I’m so competitive, if somebody learned a new piece of music, I wanted to learn how to play it too.”

  “I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me you’re so good. You could give Aidan’s guitar player a run for his money.”

  “Okay, now you’re just being a loyal wife. I’m not even in that guy’s league. I just mess around a little. After the IED blew away part of my shoulder, I wondered if I’d ever be able to play again. But, it turns out playing guitar is pretty good rehab because you have to work on all the fine motor skills in your fingers. I’m not as nimble as I once was, but I’ve got most of my dexterity back.”

  “Still, the look on Aidan and Tara’s faces when we got up and sang their first dance song was priceless. I still can’t believe you talked me into that with only one glass of champagne. Usually, it takes more than that to talk me into simple karaoke. It’s a good thing I love Lee Ann Womack. I Hope You Dance is one of my favorite songs.”

  “I can’t believe how much all of our lives have changed since Aidan first played that song for her at Kiera’s wedding. You could get whiplash thinking about it all.”

  Heather grins at me as she responds, “I wonder if Jeff and Kiera knew how much they were going to change the world just by falling in love.”

  I think about that for a moment. “You’re right. A lot of people’s lives would be completely different. There’s you and I, Aidan and Tara, Denny and Gwendolyn and who knows who else. Wow! Do you think someday our love story is going to impact somebody else’s life like that?”

  “I don’t know, but that would be phenomenal. I’d like to think there is an ongoing chain of love linking one love story to another throughout time. That’s an amazing concept. It would mean time really isn’t relevant. Right now, I would give anything for time not to matter so much,” Heather responds wiping away a tear.

  “Gidget, I didn’t mean to make you sad. I want the time we have left together to be as happy as we can possibly make it. There’ll be time for tears later. But right now, I want to store these memories in my memory bank as the most spectacular times I’ve ever had in my life. It won’t be hard, trust me; because I’m with you and you are my definition of happy.”

  “Ty, it’s not really that I’m sad. I’m just suddenly aware that each and every moment we spend together is precious. I feel stupid for not being more cognizant of that earlier. I’ve known all along that every day could be the day you may be dispatched on a call you don’t come back from or that any time you could be called up with no notice, but I guess I just stuck that reality in the back of my head and chose not to deal with it. Now, I’m kicking myself because we could have been storing phenomenal memories away for much longer if I had been paying attention.”

  I place my hand over hers as soon as we stop at a stop light. “Gidget, it’s not like you made those decisions in a vacuum. I was an active partner. I spent a fair amount of that time playing mind games with myself about my past and whether I could trust in the future. So, like Denny is fond of reminding me. The only time that we can live for is today. So, for today let’s celebrate the incredible fact that we got married. Yesterday is done and we’ll let tomorrow take care of itself, okay?”

  “Okay, dear husband. Oh my gosh! Does that sound as odd to you as it does to me? I always imagined what my wedding day would be like and today was nothing like what I always pictured in my head. But, in so many ways, it was more perfect than what I’d always pictured. Except for my brother and sister— and of course my grandparents— everyone that I wanted to be there was.”

  We pull up at the hotel and I park the truck. I walk around to her side and help her out as she continues her explanation, “Since, it wasn’t officially my wedding, I didn’t even have to sweat all the small details. I wish I would’ve gotten to wear a traditional white gown with all the trimmings though.”

  “I think you’ve forgotten this was just the warm up act. Did you forget that I’ve promised you a world-class shindig when I get back from the sandbox? I mean it, Gidget. Throw yourself the party of the century. I don’t really care. You can dress me in a red white and blue sequined spandex tuxedo, if that’s what floats your boat. I’m down for whatever makes you happy. I’ll be there with bells on.”

  Heather shudders as she responds, “Gee, thanks a lot. I’m having a hard time getting the visual of you looking like a ringmaster in the Barnum & Bailey Circus on our wedding day out of my head. I think I’ll skip that one.”

  I wink at her as I reply, “Hey, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. It could be really hot.”

  “It turns out I like alpha-military type guys in their swanky uniforms. The thought of running away to the circus was fun when I was a kid. But, I came out with a much better guy when I decided to pay attention to your pestering,” Heather replies.

  “Pestering?” I ask with mock outrage. “I’ll have you know, that was a highly orchestrated, sophisticated seduction effort.”

  Heather raises an eyebrow at me as she responds, “If you say so, Cowboy. It felt an awful lot like pestering to me.”

  “Whatever!” I scoff, as I roll my eyes. “It seems like we have some revisionist history going on here since the results are in the pudding, my dear wife.”

  Heather giggles as she replies, “Okay, point taken, you big ole’ egomaniac. I might’ve liked the pestering a little more than I let on.”

  We walk hand-in-hand through the doors of the hotel. When we left this morning, never in a million years did I think we would be returning tonight as a married couple. I can’t imagine the red tape Heather had to cut through to make it happen. It’s even more phenomenal when you consider she was also in charge of making Tara and Aidan’s wedding cake under the glare of the media. Her assistant, Piper caught some reporters sifting through the garbage tasting cake scraps to try and determine what flavor of cake our friends were having at their wedding. In the midst of all that, ‘their’ wedding had somehow also become our wedding and it was truly spectacular.

  I stick the key in the locking mechanism and pick up a very stunned Heather. After I finish kissing her soundly, she laughs as she says, “What are you doing, you silly man? It’s all legal now, I’m not running away. There’s no need to go all macho-GI Joe on me. I’ll come very willingly.”

  I roll my eyes at her. “I can’t believe I’m the one who has to explain this to you, Little Miss-I’ve-Been-Planning-My-Wedding-Since-Before-Kindergarten, but this here is called carrying you over the threshold.”

  She gives me a coy look. “Oh I see. I figured you were just trying to get closer to my zipper.”

  “I’m not sayin’ there aren’t perks to the tradition,” I admit as I set her down on the bed with the tasteful blue, tan and ivory comforter. I look around the well-appointed room, including the sunken Jacuzzi tub in the corner. “It’s not the feather-bed, but it’ll do. Mrs. Colton welcome to your new household with me. May God
always bless those who cross our threshold and may only love reside here for generations to come.”

  Heather reaches up to wipe away tears as she reverently kisses my cheek. “You never stop surprising me. Just when I expect something silly and crass to come flying out of your mouth, you come up with a sentimental gem like that. You melt my heart at the most random times. I love you so much Mr. Colton and I can’t wait to build our household together.”

  “Really?” I ask, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively. “Can we start tonight? I always thought it’d be cool to have three—I’d like two boys and a girl so she can have built-in protection from creeps.”

  The look of astonishment on Heather’s face is almost comical as she sputters, “Wow! I guess you’ve chosen to completely blow off the toning down conversation. Eventually I want kids, although I’m not sure I’m sold on three. But, the timing sucks right now. I’m just starting a brand-new business and you’re going to be gone for who knows how long. We have to think about all of that before we rush headlong into parenting.”

  She’s right, of course. There are a lot of complicating factors. But, I can’t help but wish that we could set those aside and just start our lives. “I’m sorry, Gidget. It’s hard not to get ahead of myself. I see you with Mindy and know you’re going to make an amazing mother.”

  “Tyler, it’ll happen. We just need to be patient. You’ve got some unfinished business with some insurgents to take care of first. When you get back, we’ll see what we can do about putting a family on the to-do list.”

  “Maybe it’s selfish of me, but for tonight can we pretend I’m not leaving in a few hours?” I ask as I brush a stray lock of hair out of her face and try to memorize the flakes of color in her eyes.

  The look of sadness on Tyler’s face is so profound it makes my heart ache. Paying my somewhat poufy dress no mind, I scramble onto Tyler’s lap and start to draw a line of kisses down his sensitive jawline. “It’s a deal, Cowboy. As far as I’m concerned, tonight Uncle Sam doesn’t exist. He’s been disinherited. It’s technically our honeymoon and I’m not going to share it with anyone because our goodbyes are going to come far too soon.”